​ Hey Femm readers, I have a travel post for you all today. Since St. Patrick’s Day is coming up in a few weeks I thought I would share with you guys some cultural experiences about Ireland for these next few days. In today’s post, I will tell you guys about some awesome places to visit in Ireland from my personal experience. I will continue this mini blog series talking about classic Irish films, music, food, and what my town does locally to celebrate the day. I’ll even share with you the history of the day if you like. But like I said in this post I’m going to share with you guys some travel destinations in Ireland. Last summer I was lucky enough to travel to some amazing places in Ireland. These places were Dublin, Galway, the Aran Islands, the Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Mohr, Connemara, Kinsale, the Blarney castle, Ballylongford, Bantry, and Kilfeacle. If you are traveling to Europe, then the best places to stay are in Airbnb’s. They can be inexpensive and a wonderful way to see what the locals experience every day. When I traveled throughout Ireland Airbnb’s are what we stayed in minus a few occasions. Throughout this blog, I’ll share with you guys about what to do in the places I visited. The first town will be Dublin.

This image is from Google it does not belong to the author.

1.Dublin- This is the capital city of Ireland and it’s a beautiful city. However, I would recommend only staying there for only two or three nights since it’s just a typical city with its fancy restaurants, shops, etc. But this doesn’t mean that Dublin doesn’t have some wonderful spots to explore. For one thing, you should totally check out the TempleBar on Grafton St. (I know like Ed Sheeran’s song) where you can listen to live music all night long. You know what was interesting about most of the music played in pubs in Ireland? It was mostly American music; specifically, rock music from the 60s-80s. Only a few places played authentic Irish music. My first night there I heard a band play some great music including their cover of U2’s song Where the Streets Have No Name, Wild Rover, and Galway girl. In fact, I practically cried when they sang Galway girl. It’s one of my favorite Irish songs and to hear it be sung while in Ireland was very surreal. Also, a little tip for when you listen to the song Wild Rover. When it gets to the part “And it’s no, nay never…” clap four times then it’ll repeat the line and you clap twice, and finally after they sing “Will I play the wild rover… you clap only once. You do this throughout the song. So, the clapping goes four, two, one.

Another place to visit in Dublin is the Guinness factory. The factory itself is located at St. James’s Gate Brewery. The factory is in the shape of a Guinness glass with seven floors. The bottom floor is where you go to check in and begin the tour. It also has the gift shop where you can buy some Guinness souvenirs like shirts, hats, drinking glasses, etc. Each floor has a different story behind how Guinness is made and the stories that inspired the ads behind the drink like the Whistling Oyster, the fish on the bike, and the zookeeper. One floor even had a touch screen harp you could play. The seventh floor is the Gravity bar where you can buy a few drinks while overlooking the city of Dublin.

These images are from Google it does not belong to the author.

Some other cool places to visit in Dublin is the Trinity College. It’s a beautiful and old campus that’s still opened to this day. The architecture of the buildings is breathtaking. If you love books or even old buildings, then the main thing you need to see is the Trinity Library. It is the biggest library in Ireland and it is a copyright library that’s allowed to have material Published in the Republic of Ireland free of charge. Another beautiful spot to visit is the St. Patrick’s Cathedral. You can go in and join a tour if you like or you can tour it yourself. During the tour, you can learn a lot of Irish history including about the author Johnathan Swift who’s grave is located there. Well, that’s it for part one of this travel blog. ‘til next time.